more than i love myself.

Part One

Steve stepped outside, squinting against the cold gust that hit him as the door closed behind him. He took in a shivery breath before making his way to his car. He smelled snow on the air, and just hoped he could get to work before the storm began.

The car started without too much difficulty, and Steve turned up the radio as he made the short drive to Robin's new apartment. He was jealous of her, a bit. At least she'd been able to save enough money to get her own place. She was working two jobs and had a dog-sitting gig on the side as well, so that was probably it. Steve sighed to himself. Maybe that could have been him too, if he had just tried harder. He wasn't smart enough for the kinds of jobs that, say, Nancy could get. He wasn't cool enough to land the actually cool jobs either.

You're making excuses, Harrington. The nagging voice was back, the one that sounded eerily like Steve's dad. Steve grumbled and shook his head, trying to ignore the voice as he pulled into a parking spot near Robin's apartment.

He spotted her rushing down the stairs, bag in one hand, hairbrush in the other. Jesus, how did this girl keep two jobs when she was always so scattered? Robin slid into the car and immediately cranked up the heat.

"How the hell do you not freeze to death, Stevie?" Robin asked in a shivery voice, then relaxed as the hot air began to come through the vent. Steve just shrugged and pulled out of the parking lot.

"Talkative today, aren't we?" Robin remarked. Steve turned his head briefly to see she was staring at him, her eyebrows raised in a concerned question.

He shook his head. "Sorry Rob, I'm just... tired. Didn't sleep well last night."

"Thinking again?"

"Yeah. About what you said the other day, about... yeah."

She grinned. "About your obvious crush on Rob Lowe, you mean?"

Steve snorted. "I don't know what you're talking about, Rob."

"I mean he has the same name as me, kinda," she said with a giggle. "Remember when you confessed to me in the movie theater bathroom?"

"Hah, yeah, that was embarrassing," Steve said, though he couldn't help but laugh along. "I was so..."

"Oblivious? Because yeah, you were, and you still are." She poked his arm teasingly as she ran her brush through her hair. "Honestly, Harrington? I think you have a type."

"What's your basis? That an actor has the same name as the gay girl I confessed to in a bathroom three and a half years ago?" Steve smiled.

Robin let out one of her loud laughs, the ones that let you know she was sincere. She followed up with a teasing smirk in Steve's direction. "Mmmmmaybe. Or, maybe, I don't know, nerdy girls who are good at fighting slimy alternate-dimension monsters, and... actors with the same name as your lesbian best friend."

Steve chuckled as he pulled into his parking space at Family Video. "Okay, smart-ass, we're here."

As the two of them got out of the car and headed toward the building, Steve smiled. Robin might talk too much, and she may be quite presumptuous, but she did have this special sort of charm... something that could make Steve smile, even on his worst days.

—

It started to snow about an hour into their shift. Snow usually meant less traffic in Hawkins, which meant less customers.

Robin was slumped against the counter, staring at the ceiling, while Steve was entering the new shipment of VHS's into the store's database. The store was silent except for the clicking of computer keys and Robin's periodical humming.

The bell over the door dinged, signaling a customer. Steve was in the middle of typing in an entry, so he didn't look up as he dully repeated the same thing he'd say to every customer: "Hello, welcome to Family Video."

Robin had straightened up (pfft), supposedly to be more professional, though it was odd she hadn't said anything. The customer hadn't spoken either, and Steve hadn't heard any footsteps from them, which left the store in complete and total silence other than the clacking of the computer keyboard.

Steve noticed. He glanced momentarily back at Robin, and had to do a double take.

Her eyes were wide and her face had drained of all color. She looked almost as if she'd just seen a ghost. Furrowing his brow, Steve stopped typing and looked over in the direction Robin was staring... and froze.

Though the figure that stood in front of the door was disheveled, covered in snow and something slimy, and shivering uncontrollably, there was no mistaking it. That jacket, that hair...

Steve's voice was barely audible as he whispered in complete disbelief.

"Eddie...?"